The Beyond
by Roselle Greywood
Summary: A series 6 fic. Will the Mallrats reach land before the madness of being stuck on a boat takes its toll? And when they arrive, will it present itself with a bright new future, or hostile adversaries? Please RR. May have mature content later on.
1. Episode 1

The Beyond

_A Tribe Fanfiction_

Author's Notes: You're all probably very sick of everyone's takes on series 6… which unfortunately it's future isn't looking promising. However, even if you're loathing all the different attempts to create a decent fan series 6, please, please, give this one a chance. I'd really appreciate your support. I'll shoot you with the first couple of chapters, and I'd like feedback. Enjoy, read, and leave a review if you like. I really hope you like this! I've put a lot of research and effort into this, which, of course, requires time.

Just a little note before we start – the whole fanfiction will represent the whole series 6 (according to me). Each chapter will represent an episode.

And if you have _any _ideas you'd like me to include; they're always welcome! I will give you full credit; that I promise sincerely.

Happy reading,

R. Greywood.

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE TRIBE OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS IN THE SHOW. THEY BELONG TO CLOUD 9 RESPECTIVELY.

* * *

Episode One

Lex stared over the banister of the boat, gazing after the diminishing scene of the deserted city. He gave a heart-heavy sigh and pushed backwards on the railing, turning on his heel to look Amber squarely in the eyes.

"I can't believe we're abandoning it like this… I'd never have dreamed. Its –"

"Always been our home. I know." Amber cut across him. "Trust me; there's a _lot_ of people on this boat who feel exactly the same way about it as you do." She looked behind her and Lex, eyes scanning over the mass of teenagers and children crammed onto the boat. "I'm sure we'll have to deal with a boat full of homesick kids…" She gave a hopeful smile and patted him gently on the arm before turning to take her son Bray from her lover's arms, Jay.

Lex saw them exchange a small token of affection - a swift kiss. He knew they were happy together, and was not at all begrudged against them; it was just that seeing this made him feel bitter. He had just had to deal with the disappearance of one wife, and the death of a girlfriend. Lex leant back against the handrail, holding his head in his hands, feeling them become hot and wet with the few tears he shed secretly, his black hair falling to obscure his face from view.

xXx

Two hands grasped each other firmly, tenderly. One lay on top of the other; the one underneath curled round the banister at the edge of the boat. The knuckles were white; the feminine hand held the rail tightly, not sure if what she was doing was the right thing, or what she wanted to do. A reassuring arm embraced her round her waist, squeezing her. Ellie smiled, and laid her head against her boyfriend's shoulder.

She closed her eyes gently and listened to the waves all around them. She listened to the swell and dip of the vast expanse of sea… the sound of an open space. The sky was a soft gray hue, the wind lashed at their faces, twirling in their hair and stirring up the waters to slap at the side of the boat. The spray was refreshing and cool.

Ellie gave another smile. She knew now it was what she wanted, even if it wasn't the right thing.

xXx

Trudy knew as well as anyone that it would be days before they reached land – if at all. But although everyone else realized this, she was the one to know it better than them. She believed it through and through, and what was more, she saw it as a particularly ominous situation.

There would be many arguments. Even perhaps, she worried, between her and Amber. Friends would be divided – being stuck in one place begins to go to people's heads, she knew this from experience (after being trapped in the Guardian's hold for so long, she had lost all hope of things returning to peace).

And after a while, the supplies would not hold up. It was not as though they had had enough warning to stock the boat up with enough food to last for a week – if they stretched it out then it would probably last for at least four days, and after that they could survive a further three days (at a push). And even then, they could go a day without, in between eating…

She screwed her eyes shut. The young mother was stressed – all these thoughts, worries, fears. She had hope, yes, but all the other things outweighed them one to a million, and that glimmer of hope was faint.

xXx

Three days passed. The excitement of a new life, a different home, a fresh start, died down within the first forty-eight hours. The older teenagers could keep the younger children occupied and entertained for some time, but eventually their patience wore thin with the constant complaints and moans that were fired at them constantly.

"Are we there yet?"

"Where are we going?"

"I'm hungry…"

"I miss my home,"

"Will we be okay?"

They then relied on the kids enthusiasm, and imaginations, to keep them going. The stories and possibilities they conjured up were fun – it gave them further, stronger anticipation.

And then Ebony came up with another worry that she posed to Jay, Salene, Jack and Amber.

"What if the fuel runs out. What does this boat rely on?" She was obviously scared – this was not the time to worry about losing control and exposing her weaker, anxious side.

Jay mulled this over for a while.

"Why don't you ask the captain? It's his boat, after all. Or maybe get May to? She knows him more than we do,"

Jack volunteered to go with her, after she'd agreed.

They approached him at the wheel in the cab. May wrung her hands behind her back, noticeably nervous about what his answer would be. Jack slid a supportive hand over her shoulder, and squeezed it encouragingly.

"Um, Felix?"

"… what you want, May?"

"We were just curious… um, the boat?"

"Get to the point?" He was obviously irritated – perhaps he was trying to concentrate on keeping the boat steady.

"What does it run on? I mean, what do you use for fuel?" She looked at his back, as if it held the answer.

"Easy. Salt. Since we never found a way of extracting stuff from the earth after the virus, I just figured that my dads boat could adapt to run on something else. And it's 'environmentally friendly' too, so we won't be making mistakes that _they _made.

"Basically, every time you cast off, you have to put some salt in. I collected it from the sea, and then once its got going, it'll just keep taking it out of the water and filtering it through. Keeps the turbine going. It could have been hydro powered, but I'm not that clever. Just knew the basics, from what me dad taught me. It's slow but effective." He gave a smile.

Jack looked astounded.

"But that's genius! I mean, its so… gosh, no, really, this is top stuff, like…" it was another of the moments in which he lost his breath and all words escaped him. May gave a little smirk.

Felix's grin broadened. He was obviously proud of himself, and Jack had unknowingly flattered him.

This put them on good terms with Felix from then on. He did question them more about where they were going, and wasn't fussed when they confessed they didn't have a clue. Even though he had a good idea of the world, Felix still hadn't known where they were going either – he'd no idea what direction they'd set off in, or if they'd changed direction totally and were heading back the way they'd come.

Fortunately Jack pointed out they could tell their direction by the way the sun rose and set, and eventually they sussed out that they were headed south-east.

Another two days passed. They had been traveling for a total of five days now, and the strain was beginning to show. The children were exhausted and bored – even their own imaginations had given up, filled with nothing but the endless blue carpet that stretched out all around them. The older kids tried to keep spirits up, but to no avail. It did nothing to help, and in the end they gave up too.

Felix got bored of standing at the helm every day, and requested that at least two people swap over with him every two hours. Darryl and Jack volunteered. It gave them a chance to take a look at where they were going, and also it gave Jack the opportunity to discover, in depth, how the boat operated.

xXx

The faint sound of raised voices rose to Jack's ears, and he abruptly got up from underneath the console, dusted himself down and walked out onto the deck.

"No, you listen. I'm tired, hungry, and bored. Everyone feels the same, but no, you like to lord it over us all, pretend that everything's fine because you can easily keep a smile on your face."

"Lex, cool it. I wasn't looking for a fight."

"Yeah, well you got one whether you ordered it or not. Look at you, swanning about with your tongue down her throat half the time, not caring if the rest of us are okay, not caring if we haven't lost someone, just as long as you've got your girl and you survive!" Lex shouted harshly at Jay, his voice hoarse.

Jack looked around at the others, sitting there dismally slumped against the handrail, or standing around Lex and Jay, a clear circle erected around them. People evidently wanted to keep their distance, but it was clear on some of their faces they wanted to step in and intervene.

But no one had the willpower. Jack joined the throng, straining to see over the heads of everyone what was going on. His face held an expression of disbelief; he couldn't swallow the fact that Lex had finally broken. Out of all of them, he hadn't predicted it would be the arrogant, strong-willed Lex.

Ellie came to his side. "It's terrible, Jack. Lex just saw Jay talking to Amber, give her a hug and then he started on him. No one will do anything – they're all too exhausted or scared – Lex might blow his fuse on anyone. He's uncontrollable when he's like this."

Finally, Salene stepped in.

"Stop it, both of you. Jay…" she looked at him hard, ushering him away with a dismissive wave of her hand.

"Look Lex. I know we're all hungry, tired - thirsty especially. We're sick of this boat, we're sick of each other. But this will never work out if we argue. That isn't the way to resolve our problems. We've just got to stick together and brave it out. You hear me?"

He said nothing. This earned him a sharp slap across the cheek. It left an angry crimson welt.

"Get your act together, Lex," her eyes flamed with anger, and she stepped away, walking forcibly over to Jay. The circle around where the fight had been disbanded and everyone went to milling about, or looking out over the expanse of ocean.

"Jay, why couldn't you have just backed down? You know better. You know Lex has lost two girls – and one before that! You should have been more sensitive. I know you didn't know that he would break down into such a state, but I suggest you keep your displays of affection out of the way of everyone else. It just makes moods… worse." She looked down at her feet, and left a speechles Jay in her wake.

After a time, Gel piped up unexpectedly.

"Hey, what's that black thing on the horizon?" It was an innocent enough question, but everyone looked at each other with wide_, jubilant _smiles.

* * *

Were you all melting happily in the Lex!angst? I didn't know whether you might revere/despise that. Please leave feedback! Even if its just to tell me you loved it, or hated it! Critisism is welcome! Even flames – that might tell me how much you hated it. If you want me to continue – those kinds of reviews give me hope and incentive to carry on, just to please my fans.

Thankyou for reading, the following episodes/chapters will be up soon I hope. This was just a taster to wet your whistles!

- R. Greywood.


	2. Episode 2

Author's Notes: Second chapter up! I'll try to update regularly, of course. I hope you're all enjoying this – please, please leave reviews to let me know what you think! It gives writers so much more hope and incentive to continue!

Happy reading,

R. Greywood.

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE TRIBE OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS IN THE SHOW. THEY BELONG TO CLOUD 9 RESPECTIVELY.

* * *

Episode Two

It barely took another two hours to reach the island in the distance. Felix docked the boat upon the golden sands; they threw down thick ropes from the sides and nailed them into the cement-like wet sand.

"The boat should stay secure now – we'll be able to drop off everyone else and unload anything else you brought with you." Felix told Lex, Amber and Ebony. Shaking the Casanova's hand, he trotted back over to the boat to begin getting everyone else down from the deck.

Amber followed the captain, eager to thank him for guiding them safely here.

"It's no problem." His eyes turned dour. "I still require my payment,"

"We'll fix that up for you." Amber nodded with a smile.

May cut in. "It'll be a deal that'll suit you, too," she added. "Anything you need… want?" the attention-craving girl looked at him indirectly, a little chary.

"Not that I want, no. But without you, I won't be able to make it back on my own. On top of that, I don't think I'll really want to. Mind if I stay here?" Felix asked hopefully.

May glanced at Amber. "It'll be an extra mouth to feed…" she murmured under her breath.

"But an extra hand to assist. Welcome aboard, Captain!" Amber exclaimed joyfully, clapping him on the back in a convivial manner. May rolled her eyes.

Jack aided Ellie as she walked down the ramp to get off the ship. He caught her at the bottom as she tripped, falling onto his chest. Wrapping his arms around her protectively, Ellie received a brief squeeze from Jack as he headed off to assist with unloading the paraphernalia and accoutrements that people had brought with them – most of it belonged to Gel. He didn't once whine or protest (dissimilar to the owner of the things he was transporting off the boat) despite the luggage – superfluous clothes, cases and cases of make-up - being substantially difficult to carry.

"Hey Jack, you need a _hand_ with that?" Lex approached him with his usual arrogant swagger, the one that when he walked into a room with it, made him out to own the place. He dared to take a malicious glance over at Gel, who was dreamily filing her nails, sitting in the shade of a lone palm tree on the beach. "Head in the clouds, that one…" he muttered to himself.

"Sorry?" Jack appeared oblivious to Lex's grudge against how lazy Gel was.

"Just thinkin' how much of a waste of time she is," he inclined his head over to the fashion slave.

"Well, she'll get her come-uppance for her ungratefulness sooner or later. In the meantime, I'll take you up on that offer of a hand." Jack walked away, struggling under the weight of a large suitcase.

"Slade! Come help!" Lex called over to the lone rider, who was 'idly chatting' (in Lex's opinion) to the former Techno leader.

"Alright!" came the reply. "Hey Gabe," he tapped Ram on the shoulder, "you coming too?"

"I'd love to, but although I can walk, my legs aren't all that strong. I'd probably buckle under the weight of anything. Thanks for asking. I'll go and see what I can help Jay with,"

xXx

The nights that followed greeted the stranded souls with an icy wind, who had an equally vicious brother. The rains lashed at the trees, bending them almost double. Everyone was glad that small shelters had been erected the previous day, but they were uneasy about how long their makeshift tents could hold up.

Fortunately it was oddly still that morning. Trudy couldn't banish her sense of impending doom; even Amber's calming and comforting words could not convince her otherwise – her mind stayed focussed on one thing and one alone; that there was danger approaching.

If anyone could have been labelled 'prophetess' it would have been Ebony, but then again it wasn't strange that Trudy could have had the title if she wanted. She would not have refused it however it might not have been all that welcome – perhaps as welcome as a plate full of slime for breakfast.

Every hand was ready to work – everybody had their minds intent on one thing; to establish a new community where they would all be shielded from any harm that could hurt them, where they were united. It was an unusual sight, to see every former Tribe united and working alongside each other - The Jackals; the Demon Dogs; former members of tribes that had attempted to launch scenarios for themselves to lord over the various other Tribes. The members of the MallRats could look around and could say that everyone had achieved something spectacular. The dream _was _coming alive.

Everything slowly took form and shape. Smiles passed round all day. Songs to keep up spirit were sung. The lively attitude of everyone kept hopes up, and gave people incentive to carry on, have faith in one another, and above all to _trust_ each other.

Days passed. Then, gradually, the days morphed into weeks, and then again the weeks into a month. In the end they had been here for a month and a quarter. Five weeks, that was all, and they had settled in well, with the new town coming together beautifully.

What they had come here for stood for all the things the original town had. Freedom; freedom of everything. And they had their freedom now. They had escaped the virus (at least they hoped it wouldn't find them here) and for the first time in years they had no fear of anything.

They were oblivious to the eyes that watched them every day, painfully unaware of the danger that they had sunk into. They had fallen unknowingly into the trap.

* * *

Thankyou for reading. If you have any questions, about anything (especially continuity – it would be great to see where I've gone wrong, lol) then please drop me a review. They're all appreciated SO much. Once again, thanks for reading!

I will update with the third chapter soon – I promise.

Until then, keep the dream alive!

- R. Greywood.


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